Memories of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Her Everglades Crusade, Foresight, Fall 1998

BY Nathaniel Pryor Reed, Chairman

Everyone who loves the Everglades recognizes the unique contribution that Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998) made to the continuing effort to enhance the remains of what once was a near perfect jewel of a natural system.

I had first read Marjory’s classic book, The Everglades: River of Grass, as part of a literature class at my alma mater, Trinity College. The book was described as one of the best examples of the English language, the first chapter a remarkable example of selection and placement of words so that it becomes a “poem.” It captured my imagination. As a teenager, I had crossed the Everglades along the Tamiami Trail, guided by the great naturalist, Frank Craighead, Sr. I was and remain fascinated by the magic of the grass, the tree islands, the vast diversity and complexity of life forms.

I first met the extraordinary Marjory in 1960 on my return to Florida from military service. She was on one of her then frequent forays up the east coast of Florida, spinning her tale of the Everglades as a system. She described the destruction that was being implemented by the Army Corps of Engineers as they proceeded with the congressionally-authorized Central and South Florida Control Plan. The Everglades was being walled in, its boundaries dramatically shrunk. It was being unnaturally drained; its lifeline of fresh, clean water was imperiled.

I told my father that my first meeting with Marjory was “spellbinding.” She discussed the Everglades’ problems and the options for partial restoration clearly, and with an incredible depth of knowledge and feeling. That impression was a lasting one. She was a curious assemblage of courage, conviction, incredible intelligence, wit and humor (there is a difference), and had a range of interests and knowledge that was astounding.

None of the audience recognized that much of the Corps’ plan had been carefully crafted by “special interests.” These interests wanted to develop the upper chain of the Kissimmee Lakes, utilize Lake Okeechobee as a private agricultural reservoir, and develop thousands of acres of Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade counties’ marshes, part of the Everglades system, for agriculture and, inevitably, housing. Florida’s environment was not a factor in the political decision-making of the day.

What Marjory clearly saw and understood long before other competent observers was that the sugar business was not only wreacking environmental havoc but causing political problems as well. Lake Okeechobee was being destroyed by the back-pumping of billions of gallons of highly nutrified discharge, and South Florida’s water supplies were being artfully directed by staff of the Water Management District to benefit “Big Sugar” and the winter crop growers in South Dade County. Most of the environmental community felt that some compromise would have to be made. Not Marjory! She traveled to Clewiston, the heart of “sugarland.” She told the corporate leadership that it was not only their water and air pollution, their excessive demands for water supply and drainage, and their unique ability to avoid paying their fair share of costs associated with maintaining the water management system that caused problems. Even worse was their corporate power to influence Florida lawmakers, thus solidifying her resolve to urge cessation of sugar farming and to return the southern portion of the Everglades agricultural area to marsh.

At the time, I felt that Marjory had gone too far. But years later, having served 14 years on the South Florida Water Management District, I am convinced that Marjory was right. Sugar production in Florida has made for incredible wealth among a small group of investors and, in my opinion, is the cause of political influence that is being misused.

Marjory was a visionary, a great public speaker, an exquisite author who used the English language as few others. Marjory was bold, brash, loving, sweet, tough, fierce, marvelously humorous, but above all she was the great champion of the Everglades. We will miss her!